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Safe Baby

Survivor Moms

Body Safety Training

Cyber Safety

Wellness & Resiliency

Stewards of Children

Education Series

We Care Elementary

Our Child Abuse
Prevention Programs

Whether we're in packed auditoriums, smaller parent groups, or a classroom, we bring our interactive, adaptable services to the people - meeting them where they are. Most of our programs are brought to the residents of Washtenaw County absolutely free of charge - and we'd like to keep it that way! 

Help us continue to partner with the children, families, and upstanding youth-serving professionals of Washtenaw by donating now!

Photo credit: "Evelin Presenting at Wikimedia Presentation" by Beatrice Murch licensed under CC BY 2.0

Safe Sleep & Safe Baby

Infant mortality continues to be a significant problem, not only in Washtenaw County, but across the United States. Among the leading causes of infant deaths are unsafe infant sleep practices and abusive head trauma (also known as Shaken Baby Syndrome). Safe Baby is a program for expectant parents, caregivers, and upstanding community members. Our Safe Baby program consists of two parts: Infant Safe Sleep and Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness & Prevention.

The goal of our Safe Baby program is to educate others about infant safe sleep practices and Shaken Baby Syndrome prevention in order to reduce and eliminate infant deaths.

Want to support our programs and keep your infant stylish at the same time? Check out our Safe Sleep onsies here.

If you are an organization interested in scheduling a Safe Sleep and Safe Baby Presentation, please email christiess@washtenawchildren.org. If you would like to refer a client for training and a Pack-n-Play, please complete this form. Please note: the referral form must be completed by the referring agency and not the expecting parents.

Survivor Moms

Washtenaw Area Council for Children has partnered with Growing Forward Together to offer the Survivor Moms’ Companion program to survivors of trauma in Washtenaw County. According to the Survivor Moms website, Survivor Moms’ Companion (SMC) is a psychoeducational program that reduces intergenerational cycles of abuse and vulnerability by addressing mothers’ abuse and other trauma-related mental health and development needs during pregnancy and the early postpartum period. It is primary prevention for their babies.

Healthcare professionals can refer clients to the SMC program at WACC to partner with our Safe Sleep Program Coordinator, Christie Lypka. Using the SMC model, Christie will assess each person’s eligibility for the program, and if it is a good fit, she will begin the 1:1 psychoeducation. 

For more information on the SMC Program, please visit: survivormoms.org
Or contact Christie at christiess@washtenawchildren.org to set up a presentation for your organization.

Body Safety Training

Between 20 to 25 percent of victims of child sexual abuse are under 5 years old. Body Safety Training (BST) specifically targets children in this age group (between ages 3-7). BST empowers children with knowledge and strategies so they can play a role in helping to keep their bodies safe. BST is an evidence-based program designed to teach personal safety to young children. BST is provided in ten short lessons, and covers general safety principles (fire, gun, car and street safety). BST also teaches children how to recognize, respond to, and report inappropriate sexual behavior directed towards them.

BST’s main components include:

• teaching children that they are the boss of their own bodies

• identifying “private parts” and using the proper terminology for these parts

• how to recognize and respond to inappropriate behavior

For more information or to schedule a presentation for your organization please contact: Christine@washtenawchildren.org

Cyber Safety & Cyber Bullying Prevention

How do you know if you're talking to an online predator? What could happen if you send a sext underage? Who can you go to if you're being cyber bullied? 

The internet doesn't come with an instruction manual, but fortunately, we've got the next best thing. Through classroom presentations, assemblies, and peer groups, we partner with children and teens to address some of the most pressing problems of the digital world. These include cyber bullying, sexting, online predators, and digital reputation. Through interactive education, children and teens brainstorm risk reduction strategies, learn about the intricate network of cyber safety laws, and explore real-world resources.  

Some of the biggest threats facing youth today are found on the internet. It's essential to teach children and teens how to successfully navigate their digital lives. Want more information? Take a look at our parent tips page.

For more information, contact: robin@washtenawchildren.org

Photo credit: "Child and Computer 08473" by Nevit Dilmen licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Wellness & Resiliency

The digital world and social media affects everything in our lives - especially the health and well-being of our children and youth. There is an increasing trend in teen anxiety, depression, and suicides in our County in recent years. WACC will be piloting a new program “Wellness and Resiliency” that creates awareness among students about their mental health, and how the digital world effects it. This initiative is aimed at the most at-risk groups: middle school, high school, and college student

The workshop “Wellness and Resiliency” educates students about the fundamental warning signs and causes of depression and anxiety, teaching students about emotional resilience and how they can use the internet and social media to be healthy. The workshop will also give students information about local and online resources to help them build and maintain resilience. Through our program, we hope to open a dialogue about mental health and wellness so students have the knowledge and vocabulary to address their needs.

Learn about resources in our community. Download our resource bookmark.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month - Download Flyer Here for more information

For more information, contact: robin@washtenawchildren.org

Stewards of Children

Child sexual abuse has been in news reports over the past few years, but many adults are unaware how to recognize it, respond to it, or their role to prevent it. Our best strategy to prevent child sexual abuse is teaching adults the prevalence of child sexual abuse within our society, how to recognize it, appropriately respond it, and report it.

Stewards of Children (SOC) is an evidence-based program developed by the nationally known organization, Darkness to Light. SOC is designed for parents, caregivers, childcare professionals, community members, and any other upstanding adults willing to teach participants how to prevent, recognize, and react to signs of child sexual abuse.

Education Series

Every year WACC hosts Luncheon Lectures and an Annual Conference to educate children and youth-serving professionals in our community on the newest research and trends to prevent child abuse. Issues concerning children, parents, and families are presented by experts in the field. Attendees include youth services professionals, students, and the public. Topics have included:

• Violence against children

• Empowering girls

• Fostering resilience

• Grief and loss

• The role of fathers in children’s lives

• Helping children and families cope with special challenges, such as Attention Deficit Disorder.

See the flyer for our current series!

Photo credit: 'Audience ' by Steven Lilley licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

We Care Elementary: Healthy
Relationships Project

We Care Elementary is a developmentally targeted, trauma- informed sexual abuse prevention program created by Prevent Child Abuse Vermont for elementary school communities. We Care Elementary focuses on building children’s healthy relationship skills through multimodal, highly experiential lessons for children in grades 3-5.  Children in this age range have robust set of developmental tasks. Children develop awareness of self as well as of peers and social groups. With this newfound awareness comes the capacity for empathy and establishing their ideas about how to be in the world and how to treat others. Physiologically, older children are approaching puberty and beginning to wonder about sexual development. All of these factors make sexual abuse prevention especially timely for this age group and also make it especially important that the content is delivered in a developmentally appropriate way.

The We Care Elementary curriculum includes six lessons at each grade level. Each grade focuses on different topics related to healthy relationships and that address the risk and protective factors related to victimization and perpetration. We Care Elementary capitalizes on children’s capacity for generalizing information and reflecting on their emotions and experiences.

For more information, contact: Christine@washtenawchildren.org